Bonilla defeat adds strength to Dems' cause

Midland Reporter-Telegram

Published
6:00 pm CST, Thursday, December 14, 2006

Not even Texas could escape the November onslaught by the Democrats at the polls. We learned this week that seven-term Republican Henry Bonilla lost a runoff election to former Congressman Ciro Rodriguez.

Rodriguez had 54 percent to Bonilla's 45 percent in what is Texas' largest district. The new district stretches from San Antonio south to the Mexican border and almost to El Paso in the west.

Bonilla has long been a Republican stalwart from the Hispanic community, but he was targeted early on for defeat after his district was reconfigured more favorably for Democrats.

The Supreme Court ruled last June that a 2003 reconfiguration of Bonilla's district was unconstitutional because it diluted minority votes, and a three-judge panel redrew the district in August to restore Hispanics that had been pushed into another district.

Rodriguez, on the other hand, is going back to Washington after a two-year absence. He served from 1997-2005 in another district but was ousted in the March 2004 Democratic primary by Henry Cuellar, a Laredo Democrat. Rodriguez had lost again to Cuellar in this year's primary.

Rodriguez' win ends Bonilla's 14-year stay on Capitol Hill as a member of the House of Representatives. Republicans will sorely miss his tenure and former service. Naturally, Bonilla blamed his loss on the Supreme Court ruling.

That certainly had a lot to do with his loss, but the Democrats were smart in this race and did what they had to do to take the seat. First, Rodriguez, Bonilla and six others ran in a free-for-all special election Nov. 7. The goal of the six Democrats was to keep Bonilla below 50 percent and force him into a runoff. It worked, with Rodriguez in second place. So even though Bonilla was the top vote getter in the special election, he didn't get 50 percent of the vote, prompting the runoff.

Then, the Democratic Party infused the Rodriguez runoff election fund with more than $800,000, cutting the wide gap in funds between Bonilla and Rodriguez. That, too, evidently paid huge dividends and Washington is adding another Democrat to Congress.

Rodriguez now joins the new majority in the House. Like it or not, he has helped change the political landscape of both the nation and the state.